Apple trying to frighten Samsung suppliers

The fruit-themed cargo cult Apple was accused of trying to put the frighteners on Samsungâ€™s suppliers. Jobs Mob has a permanent sales ban against some Samsung smartphones and wants newer ones off the shelves too so that it no longer has to compete against better products.

Samsung lawyers challenged the ban saying that Apple was using fear tactics against telecom carriers and retailers that carry Samsung's products. At a hearing in federal court in San Jose, California, Samsung attorney Kathleen Sullivan told US District Judge Lucy Koh that the injunction would give the iPhone maker an opening to come back to court quickly and argue that newer Samsung products should also be banned.

"An injunction would create fear and uncertainty for the carriers and retailers with whom Samsung has very important customer relationships," Sullivan said. Apple attorney William Lee said that a jury has already found that nearly two dozen phones infringed Apple patents, and that Apple has lost sales to a direct competitor.

Koh had previously rejected such a sales ban, but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ordered her to reconsider the idea. Samsung no longer sells the older-model phones targeted by the injunction request, but Jobs Mob has insisted that a permanent ban order is important to prevent Samsung from future copying with new products "not more colourably different" from the old models.

Samsung just said an injunction would allow Apple seek other bans on new products on a much faster timeline than through traditional patent litigation, which can take years. Koh is thinking about it.